Subject:  Re: Nationalism: The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse / Comment on Affirmative Action |
Author:
S. Jefferson
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Date Posted: 00:49:22 03/17/03 Mon
"Nationalism: The Fourth Horsemen of the Apocalypse" was a very interesting article. However, there is one point that I strongly disagree with. In the article, Starchild writes that "Racism is now so universally looked upon with repugnance that where it is officially sanctioned, in "affirmative action" programs and the like, it dare not speak its name." The suggestion that affirmative action is "racist" is erroneous, shortsighted, and neglects the context of its evolution.
Affirmative action is an attempt to rectify the negative impact of past discrimation and oppression. Unfortunately, during the course of American history, from the colonial 1600s through the Civil War, Blacks were slaves in America. The original constitution allowed Blacks to be owned as slaves, denied slaves the vote, but counted them as three-fifths of a vote for determining Congressional representation. Even after slavery, Blacks suffered under "Black Codes" in the North & West and "Jim Crow" in the South. At no point was there ever a mass reparations program to account for the negative socioeconomic impact that these policies had on Black America. Who knows the economic opportunies that were lost to Black Americans as families were unable to build wealth to pass to the next generation over the course of three centuries.
Could you imagine if a gang of hoodlums came and attacked you and destroyed your property, that the government would say that the way to bring justice to your situation is simply for the hoodlums to stop, but they don't bear any responsibility for your losses and injuries? How would that impact your children? What if it didn't stop with you and the hoodlum's descendants continued to do the same with your children, grandchildren, etc.? What condition would your family be in after three centuries?
Affirmative action complemented the efforts to end legally sanctioned oppression through such actions as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Voter Rights Act of 1965. When affirmative action was ushered in during the 1960s and 1970s, it was ushered in as an attempt to address the negative impact of the past injustice in an "affirmative" manner, so that Blacks would get to a socioecomic level equal to the general public in let's say 1-3 generations, rather than 10 generations without. Unfortunately, more progress still needs to be made in this area.
There is a strong foundation for the need for affirmative action. That is not to say that there is not room for improvement in affirmative action. I acknowledge that there are those who say that affirmative action is "reverse discrimination", but I would put forward that if the original discrimination was race-based, it would be difficult to plan the remediation in a "non race-based" manner. To satisfy the people who want "color blind" policies, maybe we could say that it applies to "descendants of slaves" (although I know that aspects of it apply to other minority groups & women). Maybe there is room for improvement or "mending" in other aspects of it or perhaps there is a better vehicle to address the problem. However, to state that affirmative action is "racist" erroneously detaches the policy from the wrongs it attempts to rectify. Again, I emphasize that there may be better ways to address the negative impacts of past oppression that occurred under the watch the United States, but you do have to keep in mind that the original sin was race-based so any remediation is going to have a racial component to it.
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